Garment construction



United States Patent 3,448,460 GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Virginia F. Frank, 636 Kingsbridge Lane, Ridgewood, NJ. 07450 Filed May 3, 1967, Ser. No. 635,797 Int. Cl. A41d 1/18 U.S. Cl. 274 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A proportionately enlargeable bloused garment, which is provided with a lining having a plurality of hems, which lining is attached in the garment to provide a blouse effect; upon letting the hems out individually step by step, the blouse waistline is lowered proportionately to the lengthening of the garment.

This invention relates generally to garment constructions, and specifically to elongatable bloused garments.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The rapid growth of children causes them, at certain ages, to grow out of clothes. A garment construction that lengthens the garment is a much sought after expedient.

The prior art The provision of hems which can be let out permits a garment to be lengthened, but the waistline remains the same, giving a misfit look to the garment.

Summary of the invention It has been found that a garment construction can be provided that will drop the waistline proportionately to the lengthening of the garment. This is accomplished in a bloused garment by attaching the top of a lining with a plurality of hems to the top of the garment, and the lower portion of the lining below the hems is attached to the skirt of the garment to produce the bloused effect. As the hems are let out one by one, the waistline of the blouse is lowered, proportionately to the lengthening of the garment. The result is proportionate elongation of the bloused garment, without any disproportionate misfit appearance.

The drawings FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a bloused garment embodying the invention, with the three lowered waistline positions indicated at the side and by corresponding dotted lines; and as well, the three proportionately lowered lengths of the garment are indicated at the bottom thereof by dotted lines and by corresponding bottom references to the later figures;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 22 (looking in the direction of the arrows) in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic view showing the garment before it is lengthened;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic view showing one hem let out, dropping the waistline of the blouse one unit, and the bottom of the skirt two units;

FIGURE 5 is a schematic view showing two hems let out, dropping the waistline of the blouse two units and the bottom of the skirt four units; and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic view showing three hems let out, dropping the waistline of the blouse three units, and the bottom of the skirt six units.

It will be understood that for dimensional convenience, the full length of the skirt could not be shown in the drawings and the skirt is shown cut off at the bottom. It

will be further understood that additional hems, of varying larger or smaller sizes, and spaced apart differently could be utilized.

A preferred embodiment of the invention provides a bloused garment 11. The garment 11 includes continuous front and back panels or portions which form an open neck as clearly seen in FIGURE 1. The garment has a blouse 12 or overlapping portion at the waistline. The garment 11 is provided with a lining 13' (see FIGURE 2) which is attached to the top 14 of the garment 11 by stitching 15 and at the bottom 16 of the lining 13 by stitching 17 to the overlapping portion or blouse 12. The garment 11 also has a skirt 18 attached. The blouse 12 depends upon the overall length of the lining 13, for it hangs from the lining 13 at the top stitching 15 and the bottom stitching 17.

A plurality of hems 19, 20, 21 are provided in the lining, as shown in FIGURES 2 to 6'. When one hem 19, shown in FIGURE 3, is let out, the waistline as shown at the side in FIGURE 4 is dropped one unit of length (i.e., one-half of the width of hem U) to the position designated FIG. 4 in FIGURE 1; the garment is proportionately lengthened by two units as at the bottom of FIGURE 1 by the notation FIG. 4 (+2). This can be seen in FIGURE 4 in further detail.

In FIGURE 5, two hems 19, 20 have been let out, and the waistline of the blouse 12 is shown to be dropped two units, and the skirt 18 is lengthened four units. (See also corresponding notations in FIGURE 1.)

In FIGURE 6, three hems 19, 20, 21 have been let out, and the waistline of the blouse 12 is shown to be dropped three units, and the skirt 18 is lengthened by six units. (See also corresponding notations in FIGURE 1.)

It is required that the height of the hem (if only one hem is used), or the total height of a plurality of hems must not be greater than the overlap of the blouse 12. Otherwise, the lining might become too long at the waistline when no hems remain to be let out.

It is preferred that the lining shall be provided with spaces 22 between the hems.

By the present construction, each hem proportionately lowers the waistline one unit, as the skirt is lowered two units. A garment is provided which can grow with a child. Likewise, a fully grown person can respond to the ever changing dictates of fashion.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention.

What is claimed:

1. A garment construction comprising a pull-over dress, said dress including a blouse top portion having continuous front and back portions forming an uninterrupted neck portion and a skirt bottom portion, said dress further including a lining having a top attached to the top part of the blouse portion and with the lining bottom attached to the top part of the skirt portion, a plurality of generally horizontal hems in said lining adapted to be let out to lower the bottom part of the blouse portion as well as the skirt portion, said hems being arranged in vertically stepped relation and having upstanding portions positioned inwardly of said lining, said lining in its fully let out condtion being shorter than said blouse portion whereby a blouse overlap is sustained and with the aggregate height of the material included in the hems being less than the height of the overlap of the blouse portion with the skirt portion.

3 4 7 References Cited 2,588,453 3/ 1952 Thielman 275 2,717,395 9/1955 Holshouser 2--75 XR UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,111,681 11/ 1963 Nelson et al. 274 XR 886,735 5/1908 Spraque 280 2,331,079 10/1943 Pearl 274 H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner.

2,570,777 10/1951 Dessauer 2-7s 5 

